General Employment Enterprises Inc. (NYSE MKT: JOB), an Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based staffing provider, reported net revenue rose 15.4% to $11.5 million in its fiscal third quarter ended June 30.

Gross margin also improved, primarily due to an increase in the quarter of higher margin professional contract services revenue, a decrease in the workers compensation rates for industrial contract staffing services and an increase in permanent placement revenue.

General Employment acquired Scribe Solutions in April and Scribe’s former chairman and CEO Derek Dewan assumed the same leadership roles at General Employment following the acquisition.

General Employment last month also acquired Agile Resources Inc., an Atlanta-based IT staffing and consulting services provider. It also launched a $7 million public offering.

The firm in June added William “Bill” Isaac, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to its board of directors as an outside independent director.

Quote

“We have accomplished much since I joined the company at the beginning of the third quarter,” said Chariman and CEO Derek Dewan. “The results for the quarter reflect improved profitability and a stronger financial position. Our management team’s concerted efforts to reduce non-core expenses and streamline business processes to maximize operational efficiency are working. Our field leadership team and managers’ focus and execution on growing the higher margin professional services business, hiring and deploying more experienced recruiters and continued growth and margin improvement in our light industrial staffing services division together with increasing our depth of service offerings in professional staffing, should help drive performance going forward for the remainder of this fiscal year.”

Revenue by segment

Share price and market cap

General Employment shares were unchanged today in early afternoon trading at 76 cents; the company has a market cap of $65.72 million, according to Yahoo!